Already Gone
by inufluffy18
Summary: I quickly reached out to try and pull her into a hug, but she stepped away from my reach. "I'm sorry," she murmured, looking down to her feet.  This is an original short story written in Wiliiam Shakespears 5 act structure for an english assignment! R&R!
1. Act 1: Introduction

Milda was a small, isolated town hidden deep in the desert. Everyone knew each other, and the slightest hint of gossip could spread like wildfire. So you can imagine that secrets were hard to keep secret. Especially when that secret involved the mayor's son secretly dating the daughter of a world renowned disease expert, Maria Carter, who also happened to be his father's worst enemy. But hey, we managed. I really didn't know the details of their feud, my dad had never really gone into any detail about it, but I'm sure it was over something stupid. Maybe he had cut in front of her in the lunch line in school. So of course as soon as Dr. Carter had moved back into town with her seventeen year old daughter, Lissa, my father just had to and rekindle her anger towards him and I was forbidden from ever coming into contact with their family. A bad mistake on his part, since I had fallen in love with Lissa the second I laid eyes on her. I had always been impulsive, so as soon as my dad let me out of his sight, I ran straight back to get another glimpse at her. She was beautiful. Her long brown hair ran in waves down her back, and her pale skin contrasted nicely with her black dress that ended in ruffles just above knees. She was helping her mother carry boxes into the house that read 'fragile' but soon came out again to simply sit on the porch step. "Hey," I spoke softly, as if not to startle her as I made my way forward. My plan didn't work well though, since her eyes widened in fright, and she quickly ran back into the house. You would never have guessed from seeing that meeting that barely two days later we would start dating. It turned out she was pretty head over heels for me too. We had to keep our relationship a secret of course. I could just imagine my father's face if he ever found out, twisted in rage for me disobeying his orders. And it wasn't pretty.


	2. Act 2: Problems Arise

"Ash!" I heard my name called softly by a familiar voice, smiling as I turned to a familiar face. Lissa's smiling face greeted me as she waved lightly.

As soon as she was in arms reach I quickly pulled her into a hug, noticing like always how perfectly she seemed to fit in my arms. Small and delicate, like if I squeezed her too hard she would break. "Good morning," I grinned, pecking her cheek lightly.

I could see her cheeks pinken slightly as she glanced up at me. She had to, since I was a whole head taller than her. "Good morning," she mumbled back, quickly lowering her head again as she snuggled into my arms.

I let out a light laugh. She was pretty shy, more so than most people, but I just found that cute. "What should we do today?" I asked her, knowing that there really wasn't many things we could do. Not unless we wanted to get caught. Though all of that would change once Lissa turned eighteen next month. We could just skip town and get our own place and there would be nothing our parents could do since we'd both be of legal age then.

"I wish we could just go out," she answered softly, though it wasn't my question that she answered. "Who cares what our parents say."

I sighed. If only it was that easy. "I know. But you know my dad. If he ever found us out he'd lock e in my room and have me monitored twenty-four-seven," I told her, the disappointment clearly written on my face.

It was her turn to sigh. "I can wish though, right?" she replied and I nodded lightly.

"So, what would you like to do today?" I repeated my question.

She opened her mouth to reply when she was cut off by the sound of my name being called once again. "Ash?" I looked up to see my best friend, Leo making his way toward us. He was the only one who actually knew about me and Lissa. "Ah!" he called out again. I smiled, though my expression soon changed to one of worry when I saw his face. He looked worried. Really worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked him quickly.

He was panting, I noted, like he had been running. "I've been looking for you everywhere," he breathed heavily, taking a few seconds to calm himself down and take a deep breath. "The alley this time?" he looked around our meeting place. Yeah, I know. A dim alleyway behind an abandoned theatre was not the most romantic of places. Leo quickly shook his head though, going back to his original topic. "It's your dad," he told me. "He's looking for you."

I froze. Usually that wouldn't worry me. Well, not too much anyway. But the look on Leo's face made me think differently this time. "I'll see you later," I spoke quickly, giving Lissa one last squeeze before running off. It was worse than I thought. I found my father in his office, looking over a pile of documents that I guessed would have something to do with the town, though it didn't really interest me. It turned out he'd found out about me and Lissa. I don't know how, or who had tipped him off, but he was furious. He grounded me and, like I had told Lissa he would, locked me in my room. I cursed. But it wasn't like he could keep me locked up forever, right?


	3. Act 3: Complications

I sighed as I laid back on my bed, glancing out of the bedroom window to the dim evening light. It had started to get dark an hour ago, and now the streetlights lit the way for anyone still outside. I closed my eyes, attempting to fall asleep. The sooner I slept, the sooner I would awake to a new day. Just as sleep began to drag me to its depths, a cold wind had me shooting up. "What the?" I quickly glanced around my room, my eyes resting on the now opened window. They didn't rest there for long though, and quickly moved to stare at Lissa. "What are you doing here?" I jumped from my bed, quickly crossing the room to her side. My eyes widened slightly when I had a proper look at her complexion though. Her face was paler than usual, her eyes seemed tired and her face almost seemed sickly. What had happened in the few hours we'd been apart?

I quickly reached out to try and pull her into a hug, but she stepped away from my reach. "I'm sorry," she murmured, looking down to her feet.

I shook my head. "It's fine," I smiled, but I could see something was upsetting her. I tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she shied away from that as well, and my hand limply fell to my side. "What's wrong?" I asked, worry clear in my voice. Why wouldn't she let me touch her? It made no sense.

"I have to leave," she spoke softly, not moving her gaze from the ground. Usually I would have just thought that she meant her mother was taking her on a trip, but the tone in her voice made it sound like she wasn't coming back.

I blinked, figuring I had misheard her. "Pardon?" I questioned. She couldn't have said she was leaving.

"I have to go," she seemed to whimper, her gaze moving from the ground to stare at the wall. I could see small tears beginning to form in her eyes, and all I wanted to do was hold her, and comfort her. "But I had to say goodbye," she smiled sadly, finally looking at me.

I just looked at her horrified. This was a joke, right? It had to be a joke. "You can't be serious," I shook my head. No. No way was she leaving. I quickly calmed myself down, freaking out wouldn't do any good now. "Then I'll come with you," I nodded. There. That would fix everything.

One single tear escaped her eyes as she took another step back, shaking her head. "You can't. Not for a long time," she whispered.

"Wait!" I called out for her, taking a few moments to realise she was already backing out of the window.

She smiled. "I love you," the words left her lips, before she disappeared from my sights, having lowered herself from the railing.

I quickly ran toward the window, trying to spot her running out, or on the street. "Lissa? Lissa!" I called out, quickly jumping from my window and landing on the ground with a soft thud.


	4. Act 4: Turn of fortunes

I spent all night searching, but I wasn't able to find her. Al of the lights were off in her house, and she wasn't in any of our meeting spots. What was I going to do? I needed to talk to someone, so I made a beeline toward Leo's house. His mother opened the door as I knocked, her eyes bloodshot as if she'd been crying all night. "Oh, Ash," she choked out as she recognised me, and I wondered what was wrong.

"Hey. Is Leo here?" I asked innocently enough. But the mention of Leo's name seemed to make her hysterical, and she begun weeping once again.

I freaked out, thinking something bad had happened to him. I had noticed a police car while I'd been running around. "What happened?" I asked quickly and she just broke into another round of sobs.

"L-l-l-l-leo. M-m-m-m-my b-baby. M-my baby boy," she murmured, and I really wished she would just tell me what had happened. "The police. They came and took him. Oh god! And he admitted to it!" she broke down, falling to her knees.

My eyes widened, and I quickly fell beside her, placing a hand on her should as I helped her to stand. "What did he do?" I questioned softly, curious, but not wanting her to break down again.

"He k-killed that poor girl," she cried and my eyes widened. Leo? A murderer? The was no way. He wasn't that kind of guy. He wasn't violent. His mother quickly stood up, pulling herself from my grip. "I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave," he voice had become cold, as if she'd put up a wall to protect herself.

I nodded, stepping away slowly. Leo had killed someone. A girl. Who could it have been? He'd seemed fine when I last saw him. I had to get some kind of answers. Both about Leo, and Lissa. Had she helped him? Is that why she had to leave in such a rush.? No way it couldn't be that. It was hard enough for me to believe something like that about Leo, but there was absolutely no chance Lissa had been involved.


	5. Act 5: Resolution

I had started off just walking with a fast pace, but soon broke into a run. I stopped though, seeing a crowd had gathered in front of the park. As frantic as I was, curiosity got the better of me. All the more so when I managed to see the police cars that had been hidden by the crowd. I quickly made my way over, trying to get a better view. "Horrible..." "That's so horrible..." "...so sorry for her family. I managed to catch a few of the whispers. So this must be where...

I turned to one of the women, recognising her as Mrs. Fields from next door. "What happened?" I asked, almost scared to hear her answer.

She looked at me sadly. She knew that Leo and I were best friends. "That Carter girl, she was stabbed yesterday afternoon. In the alley behind the theatre. She ran after that, but died from blood loss here," she looked back to the park, shaking her head.

I froze completely. Both my mind and body unable to do anything. 'That Carter girl. Stabbed.' The words kept flying around my mind. Screaming at me. No. No way. She'd said the girl was stabbed yesterday afternoon... where I had left Lissa with Leo... I shook my head. No, I'd seen Lissa last night. That's why I had spent the entire night searching for her. She couldn't be dead and visiting me at the same time...

She wouldn't let me touch her.

"Are you ok?" Mrs. Fields looked me over. My face was twisted into a look of utter and hopeless despair, my eyes wide as I stared at ahead at nothing. I took a step back, stumbling and nearly falling over in the process.

I ran after that. I couldn't stay there any longer, not when people were feeding me such lies. I ran as fast and far as I could, pushing my entire body to keep going, even though my chest was burning and my lungs were screaming at me to stop. Finally I couldn't keep going. I stopped, dragging my body toward the nearest building so that I could lean on the wall and attempt to catch my breath. I sucked in a deep breath, which only sent a searing pain through my lungs at the sudden rush of air. She was gone. The thought repeated. Lissa was gone. So what had I seen last night? A ghost? Impossible. But then, what other explanation could there be?

"Ughn," I let out a chocked sob, tears falling freely and fiercely down my cheeks. I couldn't take it anymore. There was no way I'd be able to live without her. My whole body seemed to become limp as I cried, almost like I had no control over it anymore. A few moments later I lazily looked around, my eyes drawn toward the sky. "I need you," I whispered, standing up slowly. Awkwardly I took a few shuffling steps forward. I could hear the roar of a car coming fast around the corner, and simply waited until it was in sight to take my last steps onto the dark, calling street. The drivers obviously noticed me too late, and though they tried to swerve a small smile appeared on my face as they approached. "I'll see you soon..." I whispered, everything fading with those words.


	6. Extra: The after effect

Maria Carter had a distanced look in her eyes, tired beyond her years. She had lost her daughter, her only family, to a boy who had just had a moment's lack of misjudgement. No one yet knew why young Leo Stone had stabbed poor Lissa Carter, and he had yet to have even uttered a word since the girl's death. Maria let out a deep sigh, her entire worry sinking into it. She was dressed completely in black. Appropriate garb for a funeral. But not her daughter's. No. This was the funeral of her daughter's secret lover, Ash Wood. Maria had had no idea about the relationship between the two, and had found out not long after Ash's death, after it had been assumed he'd walked in front of the car that had taken his life deliberately in grief for his lost lover. She walked cautiously toward her ex-nemesis, Ash's father Tyler Wood. "I'm sorry for your loss," she murmured softly.

Tyler sighed, mimicking her earlier one. "And yours," he replied. He couldn't remember the last time they had spoken without shouting at each other. "I can't help feeling like this is my fault," he grimaced. It had been questioned why Lissa had been in that alley in the first place, and found that it had been to meet with his son secretly. "If not for this stupid feud they wouldn't have had to meet in places like that, and they would still be with us." Though his voice seemed strong, on the inside he felt like a part of him had shattered.

"You couldn't have seen something like this would happen," Maria tried her hand at comforting him. Her voice on the other hand, obviously held the broken pieces of herself with it. "We couldn't have known."


End file.
